Heat-conserving apparatus.



PATENTED APR. 24, 1906.

H. LANG. HEAT CONSERVING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 13, 1905.

I r ll 'll I- HERBERT LANG, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

HEAT-CONSERVING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 24, 1906.

Application filed June 13, 1905. erial No! 264,995.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HERBERT LANG, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Oakland, county of Alameda, and State ofCalifornia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in HeatConserving Apparatus; and I hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to an improved process and apparatus forutilizing the heat and also the substance of slag from smelting-furnacesin the manner hereinafter described and illustrated by drawings thatform a part of this specification.

My invention consists in moving by mechanical means, preferably bypushing from the rear, a series of sectional molds mounted on trucks andcontaining the hot slag through an inclosed arched furnace orretort-chamber lined with refractory material and traversed in theopposite direction by an impelled current of air, so the air willcumulatively absorb or take up the heat from the slag, this hot airbeing thence conducted away and ap plied to some useful purpose, such asgenerating steam, and then, if not too much polluted, returned to theslag-heated chamber and circulated. The vessels or molds containing theslag being separable, preferably mounted on wheels and abutting oneagainst the other to save room, dispense with connecting devices andincrease the heating area. The invention also consists in means tofacilitate the handling and use of the units of slag for structural orother purposes when these are annealed, cooled, and indurated.

My invention further includes the devices in their proper combination toproduce these results and in features constructive and otherwise, ashereinafter more fully explained in connection with the drawings.

The objects of my invention are the conservation, first, of the heat ofthe furnace-slag and its application to useful purposes; secondly, ofthe substance of the slag and its adaptation to industrial uses.

I am aware that the heat of furnace-slag has been to some extentutilized locally namely, by convection or through the medium of airbutnot impelled or circulated air that would by its motion effectually takeup the radiated heat and permit the conveyance of this heat and itsapplication to separate purposes not connected with the heating-chamber.I am also aware that blocks of slag have been provided with insetdevices, such as eyes or hooks, to facilitate handling, but not by anymeans so simple and inexpensive as by sections of metallic rope, thatwill not only serve to lift the blocks, but bind them in case of theirfracture.

Referring to the drawings, Figure I represents a partial longitudinalsection through an arched retort-chamber in which the slag moves andgives ofi its heat. Fig. II is a plan view of the same retort-chamberwith its accessories for supplying and impelling air thereto andapplying the same after it is heated. Fig. III is a view in perspectiveof a block or unit of slag provided with a bail for handling accordingto my invention, and Fig. IV a section through a similar block or unitwith an iron rod embedded to form a lifting eye or staple.

In the drawings the principal notations for reference are as follows: 1,the heating or retort-chamber; 2, railways for moving the slag; 3, asmelting-furnace of the common construction; 4, separable molds tocontain the slag 5, trucks on which the molds are mounted; 7, theconducting or induction pipe for air; 8, the discharge or eduction pipefor heated air; 9, a steam-boiler heated by air from the chamber 1; 10,a rotary fan to impel and circulate the air; 12, a car to remove refusematerial from the furnace; 13, a complete block or unit of slag with awire bail; 1 1, a similar block of slag with a solid bail;

15, a lifting device made of metallic rope; 17, a lifting device madefrom a solid iron rod.

The hot slag in a liquid state flows from the furnace 3 into the molds4, mounted on the trucks 5, which are moved into the retortchamber 1,preferably in a close row, each car or truck pushing those in front ofit, so they will be close together. By thus moving the cars or trucksthey require no pulling connections that are liable to derangement inthe heat and are not necessary during their passage through thechamber 1. I do not show a means of moving the cars or trucks. This canbe done by any of the usual devices capable of exerting sufficientpushing force on the rear car to move the train.

The retort-chamber 1 is made of a sufficient length and the rate ofmoving the slag therein such that the heat of the latter will be givenoff down to a point where it is no longer valuable-to 200 Fahrenheit,for example.

The air is forced in at A by means of the fan lO-and moves in thechamber 1 oppositely to the hot slag, thus cumulatively andprogressively extending the heat from the latter by a gradualapproximation of temperature that favors convection. After the air hasbeen heated in this manner it escapes at B and is conducted to someplace of applicationa steam-boiler 9, for example and after it has givenup as much of its heat as the respective ranges of temperature permit isconducted to the fan and forced back through the pipe 7 to the chamber 1and thus circulated.

The cubes of slag in the molds 4 are prepared for handling by placing inthe molds pieces of spent or rejected wire rope 15, that become embeddedtherein, as indicated in Fig. III, serving as devices for handling, bymeans of which the blocks can be conveniently handled when cool. Thesections of wire rope are frayed at the ends, as indicated in Fig. III,before being placed in the molds, and thus gain a permanent hold in theslag, serving to bind and hold the same if cracked or broken, whichfrequently occurs to solid blocks of slag.

Having thus described the nature and objects of my invention, what Iclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The apparatus for conserving and utilizing the heat of hot furnace-slagas herein described, consisting of a smelting-furnace, an elongatedchamber, open at both ends, refractory lined, a series of separablemolds for receiving the molten slag from the furnace, means fortransporting the molds continuously through the chamber, an air-inletnear the outlet of-the chamber, an air-outlet near the slag-receivingend of the chamber, means to impel air through the chamber in reversedirection to the travel of the molds, and means to push the train ofmolds through the chamber from end to end, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

HERBERT LANG.

Witnesses:

ELMER WIOKES, ALFRED A. ENQUIS'I.

